Humanitarian Day
By Asmaa Abbas
From the Midwest moving all the way to the south, deadly tornadoes have swept from Oklahoma and Albany to North Carolina and Virginia. Many citizens have lost their homes, cars, jobs, and even more sadly, their loved ones.
Confused and shocked, many people held sorrow and grief for the people who suffered such dreadful disasters. Strengthening their faith, Plaza College recalled the huge success they achieved leading the Haiti Relief Initiative to a total of $3,000. The Plaza family was confident that they can do it again…and they sure did!
On Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 Plaza College’s students, staff, and members decided to put their hands together and collect donations to be sent to the American Red Cross for supporting people who had suffered from the past tornadoes.
Coincidently, initiative walks were taking place and funds were being raised to support Arthritis research projects. Mr. Danny Garcia, a 4th semester student in the MA program, highly urged the Plaza community to take part in raising funds for this important and worthy cause. Mr. Garcia continuously promotes for this cause, as his daughter was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis from an early age, and is fighting it courageously. Of course, holding two events on the same day was no easy task. Early preparations had to be done, flyers had to be distributed, and e-mails had to be sent to the whole Plaza community. The Humanitarian Day was ready to be officially launched.
On the day of the event, delicious recipes and plates with various foods were served. Posters baring the American Red Cross and the Arthritis Foundation logos were neatly distributed. The event started at 10 a.m. and continued until 6 p.m. Plaza College’s students’ and staffs’ endless contributions were incredible. Professor Lynn McManus, the Medical Careers Coordinator at Plaza, encouraged her Clinical class to contribute with their time and effort to raise funds for these two worthy causes. Mr. Garcia himself was helping tirelessly throughout the event, helping sell tasty meals, and other materials. He also provided students with a wealth of information about how to live healthy and avoid Arthritis complications. His daughter –although she did not attend the event- designed an elegant set of accessories to be sold during the event. Not surprisingly, they were all sold by the middle of the day.
Two students, only in their third semesters, knew that this was an event that they could not afford to miss. Asmaa Abbas and Tereesa Ifill both made a huge difference helping coordinate this important day.
With an amount of $1112 for both the Arthritis Foundation and the American Red Cross, Plaza College will forever be thankful for the endless generosity of its students, staff and members.
